Mildred Cheche Tips Junior Starlets to Down Cameroon in U-17 World Cup Qualifier

Junior Starlets coach Mildred Cheche believes her charges must win at all cost on Sunday when they take on Cameroon in the first leg of the final qualification round for the 2025 U-17 Women's World Cup.

The match at the Nyayo Stadium will see the Junior Starlets capitalise on the home advantage after they annihilated Uganda in the same venue in March during the third round of the qualifiers.

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Cheche, who doubles up as Harambee Starlets tactician, maintained that the team is focused on securing a vital victory in front of their own fans before the return leg.

“The match against Cameroon…we are very much focused on it because it is the last round. We continue working and hoping that come weekend, we are going to perform better,” Cheche told Capital Sports.

The Rising Starlets have established themselves as the darlings of Kenyan football, making history as the first ever from the country to qualify for a World Cup.

Junior Starlets made their debut in the global championship played last year in the Dominican Republic.

They went a step further in North America, beating Mexico 2-1 in their final Group C match to put the gloss on a commendable debut appearance.

Cheche, who was also feted as the ‘coach of the year’, fending off competition from Shujaa’s Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua, and Kenya Pipeline’s Geoffrey Omondi, among others during the Sports Personality of the Year (SOYA) gala ceremony at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Thursday, said the award was timely.

She said the award will motivate the players before settling scores with Baby Lionesses. “They will be happy to see that we have won something. It will motivate us to work hard to ensure we are back among the winners come next year."

Victory over the West Africans will earn them a ticket to this year’s World Cup in Morocco. But first, they will have to defend their win on their away trip in less than a week's time.